安徒生童话 安徒生童话卖火柴的小女孩

2023-07-29 17:13:11 666阅读 投稿:网友
前言there was once a sculptor1, named alfred, who having won thelarge gold medal and obtained a travelling scholars




there was once a sculptor1, named alfred, who having won the

large gold medal and obtained a travelling scholarship, went to italy,

and then came back to his native land. he was young at that time-

indeed, he is young still, although he is ten years older than he

was then. on his return, he went to visit one of the little towns in

the island of zealand. the whole town knew who the stranger was; and one of the richest men in the place gave a party in his honor, and all who were of any consequence, or who possessed2 some property, were invited. it was quite an *nt, and all the town knew of it, so that

it was not necessary to announce it by beat of drum.

apprentice-boys, children of the poor, and *n the poor people

themselves, stood before the house, watching the lighted windows;

and the watchman might easily fancy he was giving a party also,

there were so many people in the streets. there was quite an air of

festivity about it, and the house was full of it; for mr. alfred,

the sculptor, was there. he talked and told anecdotes3, and *ry one

listened to him with pleasure, not unmingled with awe4; but none felt

so much respect for him as did the elderly widow of a naval5 officer.

she seemed, so far as mr. alfred was concerned, to be like a piece

of fresh blotting-* that absorbed all he said and asked for

*. she was very appreciative6, and incredibly ignorant- a kind of

female gaspar hauser.

"i should like to see rome," she said; "it must be a lovely

city, or so many foreigners would not be constantly arriving there.

now, do give me a description of rome. how does the city look when you enter in at the gate?"

"i cannot very well describe it," said the sculptor; "but you

enter on a large open *, in the centre of which stands an obelisk,

which is a thousand years old."

"an organist!" exclaimed the lady, who had n*r heard the word

'obelisk.' s*ral of the guests could scarcely forbear laughing,

and the sculptor would have had some difficulty in keeping his

countenance, but the smile on his lips faded away; for he caught sight

of a pair of dark-blue eyes close by the side of the inquisitive7 lady.

they belonged to her daughter; and surely no one who had such a

daughter could be silly. the mother was like a fountain of

questions; and the daughter, who listened but n*r spoke8, might

have passed for the beautiful maid of the fountain. how charming she

was! she was a study for the sculptor to contemplate9, but not to

converse with; for she did not speak, or, at least, very seldom.

"has the pope a great family?" inquired the lady.

the young man answered considerately, as if the question had

been a different one, "no; he does not come from a great family."

"that is not what i asked," persisted the widow; "i mean, has he a

wife and children?"

"the pope is not allowed to marry," replied the gentleman.

"i don't like that," was the lady's remark.

she certainly might have asked * sensible questions; but if she

had not been allowed to say just what she liked, would her daughter

have been there, leaning so gracefully10 on her shoulder, and looking

straight before her, with a smile that was almost mournful on her

face?

mr. alfred again spoke of italy, and of the glorious colors in

italian scenery; the purple hills, the deep blue of the mediterranean,

the azure11 of southern skies, whose brightness and glory could only

be surpassed in the north by the deep-blue eyes of a maiden12; and he

said this with a peculiar13 intonation14; but she who should have

understood his meaning looked quite unconscious of it, which also

was charming.

"beautiful italy!" sighed some of the guests.

"oh, to travel there!" exclaimed others.

"charming! charming!" echoed from *ry voice.

"i may perhaps win a hundred thousand dollars in the lottery,"

said the naval officer's widow; "and if i do, we will travel- i and my

daughter; and you, mr. alfred, must be our guide. we can all three

travel together, with one or two * of our good friends." and she

nodded in such a friendly way at the company, that each imagined

himself to be the favored person who was to accompany them to italy.

"yes, we must go," she continued; "but not to those parts where

there are robbers. we will keep to rome. in the public roads one is

always safe."

the daughter sighed very gently; and how much there may be in a

sigh, or attributed to it! the young man attributed a great deal of

meaning to this sigh. those deep-blue eyes, which had been lit up this

*ning in honor of him, must conceal15 treasures, treasures of heart

and mind, richer than all the glories of rome; and so when he left the

party that night, he had lost it completely to the young lady. the

house of the naval officer's widow was the one most constantly visited by mr. alfred, the sculptor. it was soon understood that his visits were not intended for that lady, though they were the persons who kept up the conversation. he came for the sake of the daughter. they called her kaela. her name was really karen malena, and these two names had been contracted into the one name kaela. she was really beautiful; but some said she was rather dull, and slept late of a morning. "she has been accustomed to that," her mother said. "she is a beauty, and they are always easily tired. she does sleep rather

late; but that makes her eyes so clear."

what power seemed to lie in the depths of those dark eyes! the

young man felt the truth of the proverb, "still waters run deep:"

and his heart had sunk into their depths. he often talked of his

adventures, and the mamma was as * and eager in her questions

as on the first *ning they met. it was a pleasure to hear alfred

describe anything. he showed them colored plates of naples, and

spoke of excursions to mount vesuvius, and the eruptions17 of fire

from it. the naval officer's widow had n*r heard of them before.

"good heavens!" she exclaimed. "so that is a burning mountain; but

is it not very *erous to the people who live near it?"

"whole cities have been destroyed," he replied; "for instance,

herculaneum and pompeii."

"oh, the poor people! and you saw all that with your own eyes?"

"no; i did not see any of the eruptions which are represented in

those pictures; but i will show you a sketch18 of my own, which

represents an eruption16 i once saw."

he placed a pencil sketch on the table; and mamma, who had been

over-powered with the appearance of the colored plates, threw a glance at the pale drawing and cried in astonishment19, "what, did you see it throw up white fire?"

for a moment, alfred's respect for kaela's mamma underwent a

sudden shock, and lessened20 considerably21; but, dazzled by the light

which surrounded kaela, he soon found it quite natural that the old

lady should have no eye for color. after all, it was of very little

consequence; for kaela's mamma had the best of all possessions;

namely, kaela herself.

alfred and kaela were betrothed22, which was a very natural

result; and the betrothal23 was announced in the news* of the little

town. mama purchased thirty copies of the *, that she might cut

out the paragraph and send it to friends and acquaintances. the

betrothed pair were very happy, and the mother was happy too. she said it seemed like connecting herself with thorwalsden.

"you are a true successor of thorwalsden," she said to alfred; and

it seemed to him as if, in this instance, mamma had said a cl*r

thing. kaela was silent; but her eyes shone, her lips smiled, *ry

movement was graceful,- in fact, she was beautiful; that cannot be

repeated too often. alfred decided24 to take a bust25 of kaela as well

as of her mother. they sat to him accordingly, and saw how he

moulded and formed the soft clay with his fingers.

"i suppose it is only on our account that you perform this

common-place work yourself, instead of leaving it to your servant to

do all that sticking together."

"it is really necessary that i should mould the clay myself," he

replied.

"ah, yes, you are always so polite," said mamma, with a smile; and

kaela silently pressed his hand, all soiled as it was with the clay.

then he unfolded to them both the beauties of nature, in all her

works; he pointed26 out to them how, in the scale of creation, inanimate

matter was inferior to animate27 nature; the plant above the mineral,

the animal above the plant, and man above them all. he strove to

show them how the beauty of the mind could be displayed in the outward form, and that it was the sculptor's task to seize upon that beauty of expression, and produce it in his works. kaela stood silent, but nodded in approbation28 of what he said, while mamma-in-law made the following confession:-

"it is difficult to follow you; but i go hobbling along after

you with my thoughts, though what you say makes my head whirl round and round. still i contrive29 to lay hold on some of it."

kaela's beauty had a firm hold on alfred; it filled his soul,

and held a *y over him. beauty beamed from kaela's *ry feature, glittered in her eyes, lurked30 in the corners of her mouth, and

pervaded *ry movement of her agile31 fingers. alfred, the sculptor,

saw this. he spoke only to her, thought only of her, and the two

became one; and so it may be said she spoke much, for he was always talking to her; and he and she were one. such was the betrothal, and then came the wedding, with bride's-maids and wedding presents, all duly mentioned in the wedding speech. mamma-in-law had set up thorwalsden's bust at the end of the table, attired32 in a dressing-gown; it was her fancy that he should be a guest. songs were sung, and cheers given; for it was a * wedding, and they were a handsome pair. "pygmalion loved his galatea," said one of the songs.

"ah, that is some of your mythologies," said mamma-in-law.

next day the youthful pair started for copenhagen, where they were

to live; mamma-in-law accompanied them, to attend to the "coarse

work," as she always called the domestic arrangements. kaela looked

like a doll in a doll's house, for *rything was bright and new,

and so fine. there they sat, all three; and as for alfred, a proverb

may describe his position- he looked like a swan amongst the geese.

the magic of form had enchanted33 him; he had looked at the casket

without caring to inquire what it contained, and that omission34 often

brings the greatest unhappiness into married life. the casket may be

injured, the gilding35 may fall off, and then the purchaser regrets

his bargain.

in a large party it is very disagreeable to find a button giving

way, with no studs at hand to fall back upon; but it is worse still in

a large company to be conscious that your wife and mother-in-law are

talking nonsense, and that you cannot depend upon yourself to

produce a little ready wit to carry off the stupidity of the whole

affair.

the young married pair often sat together hand in hand; he would

talk, but she could only now and then let fall a word in the same

melodious voice, the same bell-like tones. it was a mental relief when

sophy, one of her friends, came to pay them a visit. sophy was not,

pretty. she was, how*r, quite free from any physical deformity,

although kaela used to say she was a little crooked36; but no eye,

save an intimate acquaintance, would have noticed it. she was a very

sensible girl, yet it n*r occurred to her that she might be a

*erous person in such a house. her appearance *d a new

atmosphere in the doll's house, and air was really required, they

all owned that. they felt the want of a change of air, and

consequently the young couple and their mother travelled to italy.

"thank heaven we are at home again within our own four walls,"

said mamma-in-law and daughter both, on their return after a year's

absence.

"there is no real pleasure in travelling," said mamma; "to tell

the truth, it's very wearisome; i beg pardon for saying so. i was soon

very tired of it, although i had my children with me; and, besides,

it's very expensive work travelling, very expensive. and all those

galleries one is expected to see, and the quantity of things you are

obliged to run after! it must be done, for very shame; you are sure to

be asked when you come back if you have seen *rything, and will most likely be told that you've omitted to see what was best worth seeing of all. i got tired at last of those endless madonnas; i began to

think i was turning into a madonna myself."

"and then the living, mamma," said kaela.

"yes, indeed," she replied, "no such a thing as a respectable meat

soup- their cookery is miserable37 stuff."

the journey had also tired kaela; but she was always fatigued,

that was the worst of it. so they sent for sophy, and she was taken

into the house to reside with them, and her presence there was a great

advantage. mamma-in-law acknowledged that sophy was not only a

cl*r housewife, but well-*rmed and accomplished38, though that

could hardly be expected in a person of her limited means. she was

also a generous-hearted, faithful girl; she showed that thoroughly

while kaela lay sick, fading away. when the casket is *rything,

the casket should be strong, or else all is over. and all was over

with the casket, for kaela died.

"she was beautiful," said her mother; "she was quite different

from the beauties they call 'antiques,' for they are so damaged. a

beauty ought to be perfect, and kaela was a perfect beauty."

alfred wept, and mamma wept, and they both wore mourning. the

black dress suited mamma very well, and she wore mourning the longest.

she had also to experience another grief in seeing alfred marry again,

marry sophy, who was nothing at all to look at. "he's gone to the very extreme," said mamma-in-law; "he has gone from the most beautiful to the ugliest, and he has forgotten his first wife. men have no constancy. my hu*and was a very different man,- but then he died before me."

"'pygmalion loved his galatea,' was in the song they sung at my

first wedding," said alfred; "i once fell in love with a beautiful

statue, which awoke to life in my arms; but the kindred soul, which is

a gift from heaven, the angel who can feel and sympathize with and

elevate us, i have not found and won till now. you came, sophy, not in the glory of outward beauty, though you are *n fairer than is

necessary. the chief thing still remains39. you came to teach the

sculptor that his work is but dust and clay only, an outward form made of a material that decays, and that what we should seek to obtain is the ethereal essence of mind and spirit. poor kaela! our life was but as a meeting by the way-side; in yonder world, where we shall know each other from a union of mind, we shall be but mere40 acquaintances."

"that was not a loving speech," said sophy, "nor spoken like a

christian. in a future state, where there is neither marrying nor

giving in marriage, but where, as you say, souls are attracted to each

other by sympathy; there *rything beautiful d*lops itself, and

is raised to a higher state of existence: her soul will acquire such

completeness that it may harmonize with yours, *n * than mine,

and you will then once * utter your first rapturous exc*tion

of your love, 'beautiful, most beautiful!'"

the end

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